Hello Tweeters,

Finaly we found an article of the Intraspecies in ABA " BIRDING" Volume
XXVIII # 5 October 1996 by Peter Pyle and Steve N.G.Howell.
They specifically talk about the Clay-colored X Brewer's, and Clay-colored X
Chipping Sparrow hybrids.There are 20 color photos by Brian Small, Peter
Pyle,,Steve Howell and Dave Sonneburn.The article is 14 pages and written
very well.One really must see this bird in order really make a assumption
because this bird is so light that I with my bad vision could spot this bird
in a distance. Also the smal petite size I noticed of the bird. In flight
the bird looked warm golden beige and you could follow the bird because he
stood out so well. Looking at this photos in Birding I lean towards
Clay-colored X Chipping Sparrow.This bird has more Clay-colored than
Chipping Sparrow.The only different fieldmark was the gray rump that shows
in all our photos.The crown really stood out with three white stripes one in
the middle and two on the sides .A very flashy bird also the white throat
stood out.We was lucky that we could take any photos,since this was opu
second attemt to find this bird.
I like to thank all the birders and especially the people that replied and
wrote their opinion on Tweeters and Obol. Most birders responded
privatly,what I can also appreciat in order to attempt to identify this
possible sparrow hybrid and if so one must capture and take measurements,
what was done on Southeast Farallon Island on 13 September 1991 this bird
was identified as possible to be a Chipping X Clay-colored Sparrow
hybird,but the measurments ( wing chord 58mm,tail lenght 56mm)suggest that
it was a variant Clay-colored Sparrow retaining juvenile plumage or
characteristics.So we would in this case never find out what this bird
really is.We only can guess in this case.
We added onothe photo what showed the front on our yahoo site.


Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma